SCUBA is a fun, relaxing, educational, interesting, and -- if approached properly -- safe activity, it is nonetheless a sport that has risks. SCUBA diving is in fact an extreme sport that can injure or even kill very quickly, and in some very nasty ways. What we are doing is entering an alien environment that is normally hostile to human life. We cannot breathe in water without some kind of mechanical assistance. These are facts and the details should be covered in every Open Water (OW) class. All too often in today's society, however, people do not want to take the time to properly prepare...

Building on his first book, "SCUBA: A Practical Guide for the New Diver," James Lapenta addresses what is most often the next step in diver training. Advanced Level or Advanced Open Water training is often taken by divers to gain additional skills and knowledge. It is also taken to allow them to gain access to more challenging dives and dive sites. These also pose a greater degree of risk to the individual. Unfortunately some advanced classes are no more than a "taste" or "tour" of advanced level dives. The divers do not get the new knowledge and skills required to safely embark on these...